cruise control feels dangerous when is the ebst time to use?

Notmyrealname

marlot wrote: »

Best on clear motorways. Can't remember the last time I used mine!

I will be using mine as usual on the busy M62 between Leeds and Manchester tomorrow.

Strider590

When you use it on the motorway, you'll see just how bad other drivers are for speeding up and slowing down repeatedly.......

LandyAndy

I've had it on three cars and use it regularly on motorways. In my experience it works rather better with an automatic 'box because it can change gear without disengaging, making it more effective at slower speeds and on gradients and also able to accelerate back up to a set speed more easily.

laird

I've always been of the opinion since I started using cruise control that it may have safety benefits:
Foot over brake = less travel time to depress brake and stop
Speed control = no requirement to dip eyesight to check speed (effectively the same as would be achieved with a head up display)

It does depend on how you use the cruise control, I've always had the type where you can adjust up or down speed by pressing up/down buttons so in moderate traffic levels this can be used or when moving between speed limits. There is always the option to return to manual for a period of time by pressing pause so you loose nothing.

I've found Cruise control used effectively requires you to read the changing road conditions and predict traffic movements for vehicles both ahead and behind you. Otherwise you will be constantly accelerating and decellerating using it just as many non-cruise control drivers find themselves doing unwittingly.

Hintza

laird wrote: »

Foot over brake = less travel time to depress brake and stop

Not very relaxing, but as has been said it probably really comes into its own with an automatic.

I also try to use the buttons on the steering wheel to feather the speed in heavier traffic. Good when towing with the exception of long slow climbs when it can have the autobox searching, fortunately I can switch of the overdrive which (in effect) forces a lower gear.

Cruise control is certainly quite disconcerting if you have never used it and some corners (thinking M74 here) are really quite scary and it is only then that you realise you must have subconsciously eased off in days pre cruise control.

agrinnall

The only time I ever found it of any benefit was driving on freeways in the USA with low traffic volumes. In the UK the opportunities to stay at a constant speed are few and far between. And while I never did an empirical test I always felt that the engine was working a bit harder with cruise control on than if I'd been using my foot, making the fuel consumption worse.

nearlyrich

Motorway roadworks with average speed cameras you really see what 50mph looks like and how many people fly through so much faster.

NBLondon

marlot wrote: »

The trick is to look ahead. You can then disconnect it on the steering wheel when there is traffic slowing ahead. You can move both feet away from the pedals. If you're having to hover over the brake you're probably better not using it - the traffic is too heavy.

About this... On a longish motorway/dual carriageway drive then I will use it to stretch and rest my fight leg if the traffic is light or mediumish. Which is probably once a month to be honest. As others have said, it does demonstrate how some other people vary their speed constantly. I have it because it was standard on the car when I bought it - I wouldn't have paid for it as an extra and still wouldn't for the driving I do.

The only place I use it to hold me at a limit is on the A2 (Kent to South London) which is a 50 limit 3-lane urban dual carriageway with speed cameras. Even then you have to be alert as many people drive it at 65 between cameras before slamming on the brakes to pass the camera at 42. You're in East London right, Tiger? Do you drive the A12 a lot - where it goes between 40 and 50 at random points? Could use it the same way there when not totally packed...

wba31

I miss cruise control...

Like others have said, I used to use the buttons a lot, to speed up briefly or slow down.

When on a motorway, i like to keep my distance and avoid lighting up the brake lights if i can help it, so I would often be quick to hit the cancel button to start engine braking if I could see road ahead slowing up.

If motorway was busy, and I wasnt in a rush, I'd often work out the average speed and then set it a bit slower and just sit in lane 1 and take my time in getting home. I found it improved my MPG as I wasnt up and down in speed all the time.

My current car doesnt have CC and because my leg is still bent when the seat is all the way back I get a sore ankle when driving for a long time. top of my shopping list when i change car later this year is cruise control!

peteb74

just don't do what my dad did when he got an RV in the states on holiday with CC and set the cruise to 70 mph, get up and head into the back to make a cup of tea!



sorry!